See what Ramones bassist C.J. Ramone says about carrying on punk founders' legacy

When punk rock’s founding fathers The Ramones retired the band in 1996, its bassist C.J. Ramone ending up largely leaving music within three years.

Ramone (nee Christopher Joseph Ward), who joined the group in 1989 to replace founding bassist Dee Dee Ramone, briefly played in The Ramones legacy band The Remainz with Dee Dee and drummer Marky Ramone. Then he formed Los Gusanos, with whom he recorded three EPs and an album.

He also started a family, and in 1999, Ramone’s young son was diagnosed with autism. Ramone says his priority suddenly changed to caring for the boy, largely putting his music career to an end.

Fifteen years later, Ramone is back.

In late November, he released a solo album, “Last Chance to Dance,” that catches the fun punk atmosphere of The Ramones. Ramone now is taking the new music on a tour that comes to Underground Arts in Philadelphia on Sunday.

The album makes him the only surviving member of The Ramones to release original music since the group split. Founding members Dee Dee, Joey, Johnny and Tommy all have died. Former drummer Marky tours, but plays only Ramones covers. Another former drummer, Richie, no longer performs.

The album, released on the California-based Fat Wreck Chords label, teems with upbeat, poppy punk that shares a lot sonically with The Ramones, and has the same humorously perverse lyrics touching on politics and romance.

In a recent telephone call from his home in Long Island, N.Y., Ramone talked about the new music, his time with The Ramones and his future. Here’s an edited transcript of the call:

LEHIGH VALLEY MUSIC: Tell me about “Last Chance to Dance.” What were you looking to do with that album and how do you think it turned out?

“Well, you gotta go back a little bit, so you know where I’m coming from. The album before I had put out myself called ‘Reconquista’ [in 2012] it was kind of my comeback record. I had gotten back to getting out on the road in 2008, 2009, doing a couple shows here and there. And by 2012, 2011, I was really ready to do a new record. And of course anything that I do as CJ Ramone, it’s got to kind of live up to that name. And that’s not a small thing for me.

“So I was really intent on doing it the right way. I actually recorded ‘Reconquista’ three different times and I wasn’t happy with it, and I got in a tight spot. And I got in touch with my buddy Steve Soto from The Adolescents and explained to him what was going on, and he said, ‘Come out to California, we’ll get you hooked up, don’t worry about it.

“So I went out to California with Steve and me, him and a drummer that we had both played with when Steve was in Twenty-two Jacks – I had done some shows with them down in Australia – and so we pulled him in and we jumped into the studio. And Steve had lined up a bunch or really great special guests. Everybody from Billy Zoom from X to Jay Bentley from Bad religion – a whole bunch of really great guitar players and bass players came out and did it.

“So that record, ‘Reconquista,’ I was really super proud of it when we were done with it. I loved the sound – we recorded at the Racket Room out in Santa Ana, California, with Jim Monroe turning the knobs and was really happy with the record.

“We got out on the road and started to do some touring for it … and while I was out on that tour I was already working on the next record. And that’ pretty much how it went. I wrote most of those songs while out on tour for ‘Reconquista.’ And when I was ready to do it, I liked ‘Reconquista’ so much I figured, ‘Why not go ahead and just do it the same way? Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke, that’s always kind of been my thing.

“So that’s what I did and I was just as happy. I really like ‘Reconquista,’ but it was a little dark, a little bit on the dark side. But it was just a reflection of stuff that I had gone through since The Ramones retired and all that stuff – some things I needed to get off my chest and what not.

“So when we got in to do ‘Last Chance to Dance,’ it was a lighter record – it was not quite as serious, I guess. Lyrically it’s not as dark as ‘Reconquista.’ So it was actually a little bit more fun doing that one and I liked it just as much as ‘Reconquista.’ So nothing really – not guiding hand behind it or guiding principle behind it. Just what I usually do, and that’s write songs about what’s on my mind or stuff I’ve been through or stuff that’s influenced me over time.”

You talk about it having that lighter, more fun feel or whatever – and when I listen to the album, it reminds me of The Ramones because of that. It has that same sort of vibe to it or whatever.

“Yeah, and you know, people have asked me, ‘Are you trying to write Ramones-sounding records because your name is CJ Ramone and you’re trying to carry on The Ramones? And that’s really not what it is. But the best way for me to explain it is, you know, I was in the band for seven years. For seven years I lived it to the bone, you know what I mean? And on top of it, I was a huge fan since I was a kid. Dee Dee was probably one of my biggest influences. So anything that sounds familiar in my songs to The Ramones, it’s because I’m like any other Ramones fan. I’m hugely influenced by them, you know what I mean?

“And it’s not just musically. I became influenced by them on a personal level, too, because I got to be really good friends with them. They were my [laughs] peers, so to speak – not really, they were more like my mentors. Joey was really like a good friend to me. It’s like learning a language. You always learn a language best if you get immersed in the culture of the people, right? [Laughs] That’s kind of what happened to me. And I learned a lot about songwriting when I was with them. I sat down with Joey and wrote songs together. Johnny explained to me how they wrote their songs, and I was an eager student. I listened to everything they said and I took everything they said seriously and took it to heart.

“So by the time I was able to sit down and write my own songs, of course I was going to be influenced by them.”

Yeah, and I totally get that and that’s my reaction to it, too. I can feel that Ramones – the sense of The Ramones in there, but it doesn’t sound like you’re trying to copy them or trying to be them. I totally get that.

“I appreciate that.”

Let me fill in a little more of the story there. So you leave The Ramones, you play briefly with The Remainz [a splinter Ramones show with Marky and Dee-Dee Ramone] and then you have other bands, too, right? Los Gusanos [with which he released three EPs and an album in the 1990s], Warm Jets, Bad Chopper. What was that period like? What was happening then?

“Pretty much right after The Ramones retired I started a family. So my personal life got a little bit more complicated. It became tough to tour – my boy, who was born in ’97, by ’99, was diagnosed with autism. You know, I tried to continue touring with Los Gusanos at the time but it was juts too much on my son’s mom and it was just too stressful of a situation at home. So I pretty much put music off, I pretty much packed it in. I dissolved Los Gusanos and that was it. And believe me, I didn’t do it with a heavy heart or anything like that. I had played in The Ramones, I had traveled the world. As far as being a musician, the only thing I never did was make a lot of money, which didn’t really matter to me, considering the experiences that I get from it.

“But I bowed out and I got to work on taking care of my son, and then my daughter came along and eventually me and my kids’ mom split up, I ended up with custody, so I was a single dad for a while. In that time period I did the Bad Chopper record; I had a group of songs I had written and a few newer ones. Because I never could, of course, totally put it down. To this day, I still sit around every night with my acoustic guitar and mess around a little bit.

“And so I went into the studio with a friend of mine, Mark, and we did that record, we did the bad Chopper record. And we played a couple of shows, goofing around. Not much, you know – went over to Japan and South America, but nothing real serious.

“And [laughs] in that time period, I was offered the position to play bass for Metallica, but I was not able to do it because of my boy. Johnny [Ramone] was good friend with Kirk Hammet and when Jason Newstead left, Johnny got in touch. We had done Lollapalooza with them in ’96 and so they had already seen me play and heard me play, and he said they want you. And I told him, ‘There’s no way I could do it, John. I can’t, there’s no way. He was real upset, but I told him, ‘Let me tell you what – let me talk to my son’s doctor and see what he says. I talked to my son’s doctor and he said exactly what I knew he’d say: My son needs to wake up in the same place every day, eat his meals at the same time, need to go to school and put on and off the bus by you and you got to be there for him.

“So I passed it up and then [laughs] he called me back a couple months later when they still hadn’t found anybody and he asked me again and I told him, ‘John, I really appreciate it, but I can’t do it.’ This was actually when I was still with my two older kids’ mom.

“But yeah, there was some musical stuff going on there. But pretty much I was really just trying to make sure my son was taken care of and that was in a stable environment and all that stuff. And of course take care of my daughter, too, who was like my little helper there for a long time.”

Well God bless you for being that type of father.

“That’s one thing I can honestly say for myself. [Laughs] Not to pat myself on the back, but when you make a commitment, in my opinion, you make a commitment. You know what I mean? It’s not something that I ever take lightly, but especially with kids. If you’re a sh-tbird of a parent, your kid ain’t got much of a chance in life to be much. It would have been really nice for me to just take off and join Metallica. Can you imagine how that would read – my life’s history: I played with The Ramones and then I played with Metallica. One of the biggest bands of all time and the biggest underground band of all times.”

[Laughs]

“ So it would looked nice on my resume. But for the most part, my son, I don’t think, really would have had as good a shot as he did. And the little footnote on it all is if you met my son now, you wouldn’t even know he was autistic. He’s high honor roll at school, No. 2 runner on the cross-country team. He’s on his way to college. He’s got one more year of high school and he’s going to college for culinary arts. He’s amazing.

“And I’m not saying this because I didn’t join Metallica and I’m such a great dad. I just think if I was not home to insure that he got everything he needed and got the services and worked with him every day, I think he wouldn’t have had as good a shot as being where he is right now.”

Yeah, as a father, I guarantee you that it shows you that you did the right thing.

“Realistically, the story about Metallica, I don’t put it out there to be like, ‘Yeah, Metallica wanted me.’ But I hope that somewhere there’s a dad with an autistic kid that will hear that and get a little bit of something out of it. To be like, ‘I understand what it’s gonna take.’ “Cause it really is not an easy road by any stretch of the imagination but the fact is, your kid’s only got as good a shot as you give him.”

Looking back on your time in The Ramones, is there any sort of fondest moments or most profound moments that stand out to you? That you would really may you say "Light My Fire"?

“Um, there’s always the obvious ones of my first show, the Lollapalooza tour or even my first audition, stuff like that. That’s all the real obvious stuff. But I think probably the ones that are most important to me are definitely the more personal kind of moments. Because I was a fan before I got into the band. So it’s more or less the stuff that I did with Johnny and Joey outside of touring and outside of music that really are my most fond memories. Going to a baseball game with Johnny or going to a show with Joey. Stuff like that – those are really the most important moments for me.

“If you’re asking my best moments on stage – absolutely my first show, and probably the last show, when Lemmy [of Motorhead] came up and me and Lemmy stood next to each other and did [the Motorhead song] ‘Ramones’ and singing harmonies together and all that stuff. That moment right there is a tough one to beat – being on stage with The Ramones and Lemmy, playing a song that Lemmy wrote and mentioned my name in [Laughs]. That’s a tough one to beat.”

Looking back, are there any bad memories?

“Uh, yeah, of course. Being in a band is just like being in a family. There’s a lot of fun, but there’s a lot of sh-tty times, too. So I almost got into a fight with Johnny at one point. There was a point between the set and the first encore I walked over to say something to Joey and he had had bad night and he turned around and took a swing at me.

“There’s always, always, bad moments. Living together for weeks at a time, not really being able to get away from each other, it’s always tough on you when you’re on the road. But nothing that I regret. No moments where I was like, ‘Oh, I wish I hadn’t have said that’ or ‘I wish I wouldn’t have done that.’ Nothing like that.”

It’s interesting to hear you say anything that’s not great about John because I just read Marky’s book and in it, he sort of paints you like a follower of John. Like John was your champion.”

“I mean, I spent a lot of time with Johnny, but I spent a lot of time with Joey, too. Johnny was more like my teacher or my mentor in the band. Johnny was the guy who ran the band. He was the smartest guy in the band. He was the brains. And he was the guy who hired me. So of course I’m going to favor him. Of course I’m going to listen to him.”

You mentioned the fact that The Ramones were such a big underground band. I was a Ramones fan back in 1980, and it kills me to walk into a Gap or something and see Ramones shirts.

“[Laughs]”

What do you think is behind the longevity, the popularity that still remains with The Ramones? Why do you think that is?

“Uh, The Ramones had a really, really interesting combination of things. They really were like the evil Bay City Rollers.”

[Laughs]

“You know what I mean? They had this really poppy, bubble-gum part to their music that was, like, unbelievably catchy and undeniable, and then they had that heavy guitar sound and Dee Dee’s maniacal, really quick-tempoed bass playing. So it was like a really odd arrangement of things, but it just worked. It really, really worked well.

“And if you go a little bit further – ‘cause that’s what their early career was. If you think about it [sings By City Rollers’ ‘Saturday Night’] S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night’ from the Bay City Rollers, it’s just ‘Rock and rock and roll radio, Let’s Go’ [from ‘Rock and Roll Radio]. You know what I mean? They were like the evil boy band. I mean, who would ever have picked Joey Ramone to be a front man?

“There were so many odd, quirky things about them but it was something that worked. And they just had that thing – that thing that all great bands like The Beatles and The Stones and all those types of band have. They just had a very odd mix of things that worked really well together.

“And I think the reason why, after all these years, their music is still popular is because, like those bands, their music is timeless. It’s classic music. And no matter what happens, no matter what changes go on in music and how much they fuse different styles and everything, that real roots style of music will always be popular. It will always be popular.”